DePaul is the NBA launching pad overseen by super-salesman Pat Kennedy, who is much more recruiter than coach. Northwestern is the boot camp for overachievers run by the cuss-'em-and-hug-'em Kevin O'Neill, who refuses to recruit the kiss-my-Nikes prima donnas chased by Kennedy.

Forget DePaul-Northwestern games played in 1996 and '97. Chicago needs the rivalry resuscitated by Kennedy and O'Neill, two media-magnet showmen who start three freshmen and finish by saying you ain't seen nuthin' yet. Each insists chain-reaction recruiting will make his program nothing but stronger.

If Quentin Richardson forgets the NBA draft--he's nowhere near ready--DePaul could be as good next year as freshman "Q" thought it would be this year. If O'Neill stays at Northwestern--only an NBA job probably could lure him away in the next three or four years--the five players already signed for next year could help him build a Stanford-strong program.

So each December, DePaul versus Northwestern for 364-day bragging rights could be a Chicago event. Wouldn't O'Neill's student-athletes love to have the final say about the tattoo that ripples across Quentin's biceps?

"Chicago's Finest," it claims.

This year it took the NIT to bring DePaul and Northwestern together for Wednesday night's first-round game at DePaul's home, the Horizon. Next year?

Northwestern Athletic Director Rick Taylor said Monday: "We're on record as stating we'd like to play. They're the ones that, for whatever reasons, won't."

DePaul Athletic Director Bill Bradshaw said Monday: "Pat (Kennedy) and I need to sit down and figure out if (an annual game against Northwestern) is in our best interest for recruiting, for attendance, for exposure. Do we want to play in an arena (Northwestern's Welsh-Ryan) every other year that doesn't seat 10,000? If no TV is involved, would we be better off playing Indiana or Michigan or Wisconsin, where we'd also have a pretty good pay day (from ticket sales)?"

As arrogant as those remarks might read to Taylor, Bradshaw has a point. For now Northwestern has as much to gain from a game against DePaul as DePaul has to lose. Kennedy had the advantage of kick-starting DePaul's dormant national mystique. O'Neill is trying to create tradition.

Kennedy was able to recruit the most talked-about class in the country. Kennedy says his old friend Dick Vitale told him, "This is great for college basketball. Chicago needs a great team at DePaul and so does ESPN."

Kennedy realized DePaul was a sleeping giant. Kennedy compared the hotbed of untapped city talent to the high-school football recruits growing on orange trees in Florida. Kennedy and his staff rebuilt some of the Public League pipelines. Hype, hype, hooray.

Bradshaw began showcasing the talent by playing a "very, very aggressive non-conference schedule"--while Northwestern has chosen to forgo the fast track and "tread lightly."

Fighting words? Yes, but Bradshaw is right. While DePaul was playing at New Mexico and at Kansas and against Duke at the United Center, Northwestern was taking on Maine, Oakland and St. Francis.

When asked to compare Kennedy and O'Neill, Bradshaw made the pointed point that Kennedy has a history of commitment (six years at Iona, 11 at Florida State), while "Kevin builds 'em up (at Marquette and Tennessee) and leaves a little earlier than you thought he would."

The insinuation, of course, is that O'Neill won't stick around long enough to build a program worthy of an annual game against DePaul. This will further steam Taylor, who said he's so pleased with O'Neill that he offered him a long-term extension amid NU's recent six-game conference losing streak. He and O'Neill have agreed on the parameters, he said, and will sign as soon as the lawyers have signed off.

Of course, former NU football coach Gary Barnett treated long-term contracts as if they were written on toilet paper. But O'Neill, Taylor believes, is a man of his word.

"From listening to him," Taylor said, "the one reason he would leave would be for a pro head-coaching job. If that happens, God bless him."

Touche, Bill Bradshaw. Would Kennedy ever be considered a pro candidate?

Northwestern insiders view Kennedy and staff as song-and-dance artists who might bend a rule or two. The belief at Welsh-Ryan is that NU's freshmen will wind up being more productive college players because they'll be better coached and because, obviously, leaving early for the NBA won't be an option.

"Our players," Taylor said, "pick Northwestern for an education--for a lifetime--as opposed to a stepping stone to the NBA."

Taylor and Bradshaw could be better than Don King and Bob Arum.

Kennedy and O'Neill, who seem to know everyone in coaching, don't know each other. That's mostly because they believe in polar-opposite philosophies and their rapport would be chilly at best. Imagine how a friendly war of words between these two would sell tickets.